Whether you have grade school age children or you are returning to school, Colorado Springs has great education opportunities for all.  For registering grade school children, it is advised that you contact the school district to which they will be attending for their procedures and immunization requirements. 
  If you are planning on attending any of the Colleges or Universities, you will need to contact the individual school for residency requirements as well as tuition fees and academic proficiency requirements.

Colorado Springs Public Schools
The Governor of Colorado has made education improvement his highest priority, focusing on measuring and publicizing student performance at the K-12 school level. Starting in 2000, the state Legislature mandated that public schools be judged by their students' performance on the Colorado Student Assessment Program, a series of tests in reading, writing, science and math are administered twice a year in various grades. This program is at the heart of education reform in Colorado. The scores will determine which schools will get an A, an F or something in between under the state law that will hand out "report cards" to every Colorado elementary and middle school. Changes in CSAP scores over time also will largely determine which schools keep state accreditation. In addition, real estate agents consult the scores to show off certain neighborhoods. Parents use them to pick a school for their children, or simply to see how their local school stacks up.

Education-Overview
Colorado Springs offers diverse educational opportunities including several colleges/universities, home schooling, many private, religious or specialty schools as well as a well-developed public school system.
 The Colorado Springs public school system is divided into numerous smaller geographical districts. Each district has its own superintendent, school board, calendar and different policies concerning dress code, snow closure and many other issues and factors. Most districts have special needs programs and programs for academically talented students including the International Baccalaureate program. Many of the high schools offer accelerated “honors” courses in various subjects and offer different vocational opportunities.
 Since 1993, Colorado’s school choice law has allowed parents to send their children to the public school of their choice, regardless of the neighborhood school or district boundaries. The main criteria for enrollment is whether space is available in the school that the student wants to attend. Each school board establishes their own guidelines as to the application, deadline, and the process involved in the school choice program. Therefore, whether your choice is home schooling, private education or public education, it is essential to arm yourself with knowledge, ask us about any questions you may have, or contact the individual schools directly for their policies and procedures.

School Districts

Harrison School District 2-Serving the area generally bounded on the south by Academy Blvd, between Hwy 115 & the Municipal Airport & north by Airport Rd
 
Widefield School District 3-Serving the area southeast of the city, this area includes Widefield, Security, Southmoor, Clearview and Peaceful Valley

Fountain School District 8- The Fountain-Fort Carson District provides education to residents in the southern area of El Paso County including Fountain, Fort Carson & Rock Creek
 
Cheyenne School District 12-Serving the area southwest of the city, this area includes Cheyenne Canyon, Broadmoor, Skyway Park and Broadmoor Bluffs

Manitou Springs School District 14-Serving west of Colorado Springs. Located along Route 24

Colorado Springs School District 11-Serving central Colorado Springs and is the largest district in the Pikes Peak region.

Academy School District 20-Serving Briargate, Gleaneagle, Air Force Academy, Black Forest, Rockrimmon and Woodmen Valley.
 
Calhan-Ellicott School District 22– Serving over 229 square miles of central to eastern El Paso county

Monument Lewis-Palmer  School District 38– Serves Northern El Paso county
 
Falcon School District 49-Serving the eastern fringes of Colorado Springs to Falcon Colorado

Woodland Park RE-2-The northern half of the county is served by the Woodland Park RE-2 School district. Within this district is 3 elementary schools: 2 in Woodland Park and 1 in Divide. The Middle School, High School and administration offices are located in Woodland park. This district offers transportation services, lunch programs and cooperative program with the Pikes Peak region.

Cripple Creek/ Victor RE-1-The southern half of Teller County is served by the Cripple Creek/ Victor RE-1 School District. The district operates Cresson Elementary and Cripple Creek/ Victor High School. In addition to transportation and lunch programs a preschool program is available.

Other Districts and Resources-Children that live within El Paso County adjacent to teller County attend elementary school at Ute pass Elementary in Chipita Park and the High School students attend classes in Manitou Springs.

Colleges and Universities- Because there are so many high tech business located here in Colorado Springs, there has been an emphasis on higher education. Over 25% of the area residents have a college degree, ranking Colorado Springs among the top cities in the United States in number of school years completed.

Vocational Schools-Many of the larger school districts have vocational education programs and these schools will also contract with Pikes Peak Community College vocational program to offer extremely specialized occupational programs.

Private, Religious & Specialty Schools-Colorado Springs has a large number of private and parochial schools offering high-quality options in elementary and secondary education

Home Schooling
In 1970s the country was in a great need for schools. To partially solve the problem, families decided to take the matter of education in their own hands, thus, organizing home schools. Home schooling temporarily filled in the gap in school education. Later, when the lack of schooling was no longer a problem, many families, mostly with strong religious background, decided to continue home schooling. Today, according to some estimates, about half a million children are getting their education outside traditional schools. Although most of these children home school for just a couple of years, the number of home schools is large enough to make educational system pay attention to the quality of their education. The quality of home schooling, in turn, depends on the home school resources used by the families. Most of the regular schools and colleges provide home school resources for the parents; however, the most valuable source for home school resources is the other dedicated home school families. By organizing common activities and sharing their experience and educational materials, home school families are the biggest help for each other. They can discuss the problems and recommend each other the best approaches for any important issues like home school curriculum or other home school resources.

Colorado Springs School Descriptions
Charter Schools were established by The Charter Schools Act. It is a public school intended to provide an avenue for parents, teachers and community to create new, innovative and more flexible ways of educating children. Charter schools can seek waivers from school district policies and procedures as well as from state laws. Each January, each District hosts a Choice Application window. During this period, students may apply to attend any district school beginning with the  following fall semester. Once the student is accepted in the choice school, that becomes his/her home school, and the student will follow the feeder system for that school. Space and program availability dictate the number of applicants accepted in the choice school. If a student wants to move out of the choice school, another application will have to be submitted during the next choice application period. 

Feeder System- Is system for moving students from one level to the next level.

Home School-Once you enroll in a school, that school becomes your designated attendance school, regardless of where you live. Once you enroll in a school, you forfeit any spot you previously held at another district school. Attendance at a Home School means you will attend the middle and high schools in that feeder system, unless you apply during the Choice Window to leave that feeder system or strand. Two things will happen, first, you will never return to your neighborhood school unless you apply to do so during the Choice Window and are accepted, second, you will not be required to take any action if you wish to remain in the current feeder system.

A neighborhood school is the school a family would attend according to their address. Families interested in attending a neighborhood school that is not their own will have the opportunity to request that school during the Choice Application Window, which is usually conducted in January.

Overflow-Each year, the Board of Education designated one or more schools as overflow schools. When a student moves into a neighborhood and there is no space available in that neighborhood school, the student is assigned to an overflow school until space becomes available in the neighborhood school.

A resident is defined as living within the district boundaries when verified by a warranty deed, a bill of sale, a settlement statement from closing, a current formal lease agreement, a current El Paso County tax notice, or a quarters assignment letter from Air Force Academy Housing, plus Custody documentation if the student does not reside with both biological parents. If the student resides with one biological parent, the documentation must be a court order detailing custody arrangements. If the parents are not legally separated, the residence of the father/husband shall be deemed the residence of the child. If the student resides with someone other than a biological parent, proof of legal guardianship is required.
 
School-Within-A-School Models offer a particular focus area to interested students while simultaneously offering a standard curriculum to the other students within the same building 

Schoolwide programs offer a particular area of focus for all students within a school. 

A strand program carries a particular focus area, such as International baccalaureate, from kindergarten through 12th grade education.